Register or Login to Hide This Ad for Free!
Rpcoaster said:
Just curious, how scary is HOS for someone wanting to go but not sure?

Obviously, I haven't been this year, but in general, I find it more startling than scarey. I love HOS (I always bring friends), and I am someone who won't even watch movies and shows with a lot of tension or gore. Walking Dead? No way. Horror films? The closest thing I've ever seen was Lost Boys. I didn't even watch Battlestar Galactica or Falling Skies, because the stress of not knowing who was an alien was too much for me.

Depending on the year, BGW has done a good to bad job of keeping the anxiety level up outside the houses, but at the end of the day, with that many people it is simply impossible to be on a path and not able to relax a little bit.

My hope is that the terror-tories keep the general eeriness throughout the park, but regardless, you are never going to be truly terrified over long periods of time. If you don't like being startled or experiencing instananeous, but short- term fear, this event is not for you.

I scream a lot. Pretty much at anything. I find it therapeutic.

Not sure if that helped. But now you also know how much of a geek I am.


Ben said:
Rpcoaster said:
Just curious, how scary is HOS for someone wanting to go but not sure?

It honestly isn't that scary compared to things like HHN, its just a ton of jump scares, its really fun if you go with people because its funny.

Yes. I entertain everyone around me, including the actors, I think.
 
It appears the overall standard for a Haunt Event is low for most poster's here. I read the larger portion of posts here "HoS is here, it so good! OMG!" When in reality, my low expectation for this event were not low ENOUGH.

This is without a doubt the worst opening night feel of any HoS yet. Yes, worse than last year's boondoggle of an opening weekend. The event does not feel like Halloween, there is no cohesion, everything feels very last minute and rushed, and it is clear people do not want to work there.

Ripper's Row looks very choppy; there is no flow between the stretched out facades. I cannot count the number of people who saw the "Show Advert" on the side of one and went into the Globe looking for a show. The scares in Ripper's Row were more like a 1970s British Comedy. It seems like the upper echelon in the park did not give any direction to these kids in regards to what to say. Highly disappointing to say the least.

Deadline was another massive letdown and I traditionally view that as the best set in the park for mazes. There was hardly no staff. At all. Whatsoever. No one. I actually held a conversation the entire way through the maze it was so quiet in it.

Headed over to Festa from there I was wracking my head trying to ensure it IS HoS and not regular season. The lack of decorations was astronomical. Nothing really from Deadline all the way to Festa and even in Festa... Nothing. I really thought it was regular season with houses open and NOT a special event.

Cut Throat was a large large large Facepalm. So many props were used elsewhere or in Fear Fair it was sad. It was even more sad when an 8yo points to props and says "That was in the clowns." "That was in England" "Why are the paintings on the building like Ms Conner's (his Elementary art teacher). There were so many holes of décor and performers I felt bad for those there. The line setup was junk as they had a split in the middle of it for the exiting guests to crossover. Maybe that was thought of after a test of the one of the 3415425543 bar's products? The key scare was given away while you are waiting in line. You can see exactly what is going to happen WHEN you are IN line.. Not much terror there. Other than terror of it being real life and really that bad.

CTC was 100% apparent that there were next to zero funds allotted for its construction. The buildings were painted but very badly. There are 2D Murals all over the maze that are VERY 2D and cartoony. Plates, chickens, and layouts all from Fear Fair were apparent. Cannonballs looked like ornaments or something when you finally see them. Beer bottles with labels scrapped off line walls of tents. It was bad, the bad of bad, I wanted to make sure I was not at a community "Haunted House" with how cheap the lot of it appeared.

Cartoony Walk the plank Photo Op in San Marco was a top Facepalm... no.. Facedesk of the night. Visible Xmas lights on the trees was another large atmosphere killer for the area. It felt very cartoony and kid oriented. At one point during the night a young one of 11 year old turned to me and asked if they were making it all more kid friendly and turning the mazes into fun walk through things that everyone can do without getting startled. That says enough about the entire event in itself.

Whoever thought it was a good idea to play such loud Music in San Marco's theater between shows should be fired. We were on the verge of getting our money back for dinner, leaving the food on the counter, and going to elsewhere to dine it was miserably loud. You have to shout in order to hear each other.

Bitten's décor was on the higher end of any maze but only because it is five(?) years or so old at this point. It was very understaffed and had several dead zones.

For any of you who were thrilled with Nigh Beats last year then get prepared for large disappointment. The entire group I was with (who all LOVED it last year) looked at everyone halfway through and said "Can we leave? This show sucks." That says enough.

The atmosphere was not Halloween outside of FH but full party bar feel. There was zero Howl O Scream about any parts of it. That goes with something I will include a few paragraphs down.

Now now now, RHINEFELD, the battleship Busch Gardens colored buildings Hamlet. Where or where to begin with this one. I cannot decide, there is so much to say with this one. The tarps at the top are wrinkled. The young 8yo with us said "Walmart has irons for a good price, could those not be used to flatten the wrinkles." The dine protruded into the pathway something nasty and I never saw it packed the many times I passed it throughout the course of the night. I saw at most 5 or 6 tables seated during the event. The area looked like a budget that was hacked by Hellen Keller.

Walking from Rhinefeld to New France there was a couple scare actors out but not many at all. From the naked lady arch to the bridge I did not see the slightest bit of decoration. At all. Zero. None. Zilch.

New France had a large large lack of atmosphere for Halloween. Around the time I was walking past the sign and bag shop just after the bridge I started hearing fist pump jams. I was entirely expecting to see Snooki and Pauly D with what I knew was coming ahead.

Rounding the tower into France all you see if lights flashing and panning and hear the cliché "un tis un tis un tis un tis un tis" over and over again with little variation in the music. Out of nowhere BOOM! Big arse skill with a DJ dressed like something from the Gremlins complete with entire support truss for his wings. Hot wheels flags for my 8yo cousin's inbound birthday. Now I know these flags were seen last week but this week there is garland on them. Garland. XMas as come early to Busch Gardens Williamsburg so bust out the Wassle and Carols!

The Grim Reaper that is synonymous for HoS has apparently been the target of vandals out of middle school It is not a devil. It was a massive WTF seeing it. It has a happy face to it. A part of someone with me wanted to yell SPIRIT FINGERS.

The reserve actually had decoration like we are used to. We did not come across one performer anywhere there. It was bare and a large let down as historically one of the best scarezone year after year. It needs fixing. Now. Yesterday. Three weeks ago.

13, oh 13, oh how you failed harder this year than last year or your debut year. Fear of empty halways is back in force. Fear of next to no performers has returned for '13 as well. Clowns being added were nothing. Only on performer in a maybe 30 foot long corridor of twists and recycled FI/FF decorum. Another maze that my group just conversed during as it was so empty.

Ireland was bare bones. It was empty. Nothing was there. Felt like regular season was finally able to surface itself this year. I yawned and kept walking in a reluctant fashion. Scotland was bare with the same pumpkins as always. No performers. It could be called a large borefest to the extreme.

Now to get onto one of my largest complaints. This event is the definition of choppy. You are in one area with Creepy sounds then BOOM UN TIS UN TIS UN TIS FIST PUMP IT UP WORK THAT JAM. This happens all over the park. The music and transitions from one area to another is so choppy it makes a buffet with all world cuisines look like it flows together. There is zero cohesion and feels like they looked in a catalog and said "Oh we want this this this this that oh and that too" without thinking of how it will all come together. Having a pirate make announcements is another fail of gigantic proportions. Hey look, a demon party from CareBears.. OHHH Pirates on speakers now. Make sure you visit with people whose company you enjoy as that is one of the few ways a HoS trip will be bearable at this point.

Since I was there with general public last night, passholders at that. I was able to hear the opinion of general park goers throughout the night. They were mind boggled that this was an actual event. The group was the definition of GP and did not enjoy themselves. Them and I, whom typically make 5+ HoS trips per year will be making only 3 or under this year. There is no draw or hook to the event to make it pop.

Might I add in that I will be EXPERIENCING BGT HoS and UNI HHN in under two week's time. I will have my taste of real Halloween events and not chopping seven seas.

I will make another visit, if something improves then I will at that point amend my opinions. At this point it is the worst HoS in BGW history.
 
redsoxfan787 said:
TPF said:
Does anyone know if Mach Tower is open? I think the Terror Tories, and overall atmosphere would look amazing from 240 feet in the air! :D
Well it was working last night :p

I hope its open tonight! :p You never know! ;)


redsoxfan787 said:
TPF said:
Does anyone know if Mach Tower is open? I think the Terror Tories, and overall atmosphere would look amazing from 240 feet in the air! :D
Well it was working last night :p

I hope its open tonight! :p You never know! ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Planeteer
I really feel in my opinion serveral preassumptions were killed off last night

1. Cut Throat Cove will be a crappy last second maze: FALSE While it may have been last second it really looked great and I think it was much better than fear fair.

2. Root should not get a second chance: FALSE It was much much better this year! Felt more like a maze instead of the Lowes plant section.

3. Demon Street will look like a birthday party: FLASE I was actually very pleased with this area. It had several cool props and enjoyed the fire effect on top of the buildings. The d.j. demons set was also awesome.

4. Demon DJ will ruin the event: FALSE I'm not big on D.J.s but i actually enjoyed this one. He had a cool set up and played techno. While techno may not exactly ring hell it in a odd way sorta fit in.

5. The WIlkomem Haus will look like crap: FALSE What they did here may be the biggest wow moment of the night.It actually looks pretty amazing!

6. There will be no path scares: FALSE There were several path scares through the Terror Tories.

7. Howl O Scream will not be ready first weekend: FALSE The park last night looked amazing.Unlike last year everything was in place and ready to go.Even in the non Terror Tories looked great.

8. The buildings in England wont fit in: False Especially at night the building really fit in and play a role in the theme.

9. Terror Tories will not live up to the hype FALSE Terror Tories really are what they said. High theme, immersion into the theme. This may be one of the best things the parks ever done for howl o scream.

10. Bars will lead to tons of drunk idiots: FALSE While im sure there were several drunk idiots the bars did not lead to an excess amount of them.

11. Terror Tories will be nothing more than giant party zones: FALSE While there were party aspects of the terror tories there was also the scare zone/ theme part of the Terror Tories.

12. Budgeting will cause this even to suck: FALSE Personally one of the best times I've ever had at Howl O Scream.

13. Howl O Scream will be horribly understaffed: FALSE While there were a few spots understaffed for the most part the staffing was fine.
 
---This will be a quick review for the overall atmosphere only, as we did not go in any houses. Next Friday is our adults only trip, so we'll see if my opinion changes next Saturday---

I told my husband we were going to run up there to do a quick walk through of the park and only be up there for a minute--and we stayed for three hours.

Very, very happy with the park's overall feel. From the second you walk in the park, there is something top notch to see everywhere. Was very pleased. Even the husband had a good time. Last year we went one time, this year will be every weekend.

Word of advice to everyone: they are not sparing anyone with scares....and it's awesome. I rolled through with my three year old in a stroller and the six year old holding dad's hand (was also very happy at the number of strollers I saw. Take that stroller haters! AND if you talk $h!t in my ear about how slow I'm going, which is probably because the massive amount of people in front of me that are going slow because of the bottle necking going on due to the walk the plank thingy and I have NO WHERE TO GO and THEN you attempt to step in front of my stroller, I will not stop when your ankle hits a wheel and you almost fall on your face. I will ask you if you are serious, look at you like you are dumb and laugh in your face until your mom apologizes to me.)

I had a man with a chain saw jump out and come after my daughter in the stroller. She laughed in his face. Literally. I then had a pirate growl at my son, who in turn poked this scareactor with his park map of which he had rolled up as a sword to carry through this area. My son was also startled by a few other scares. As a 'mom with a stoller at HoS' aka The Enemy, this makes me very happy. As a veteran, I knew what could happen going into this, which is why I had not planned on being there for long so I could judge how the kids would do. In the past, the scaractors will see my kids and high five them or just say boo, but ultimately break character because of the forced interation with the kids. As a parent, I don't expect this to happen at all, as no one should. But this year, they are finally getting it right. And doing a great job.

As a Certified Show Person, I hated Fiends last year. Nothing to do with the nurses at all, I just hated it. This year, on a whim, I gave it another chance and had a lot of fun. I really thought the whole cast did a wonderful job. Both the kids really enjoyed it too, especially the monsters. I had two ushers at separate times inform me that there were strong adult situations, and I informed them that I was fully aware. My kids are too young to understand what 'being on top' means, so they don't get it. And they just see people in costumes singing and dancing, not women dressed up in nurses outfits being sexy. If you don't make a big deal about it, they don't know. To them, they are just watching a funny show. They laughed their butts off.

As a personal opinion though, I think the nurses outfits could stand to be a little shorter and tighter? The fit makes some of the girls look a little frumpy to me? Take them up a few inches in length and a little in in the waist area.

Side note: I thought I may have seen Zachary and CK hanging out before the 7:30 show of Fiends, but I see where Zachary went home early, so I am thrilled I didn't run up and make a fool out of myself.
 
Youhow2 said:
I wonder how many people who like this event have been to other major Halloween events at other parks.

Does it matter as long as we enjoyed ourselves? And, yes I have.


David said:
Party Rocker said:
Finally I want to address the crappy attitude and appearance this site has been showing. I am not alone in this at all. I have friends who look at this site occasionally and there are members who agree as well. This site has been giving off a very negative tone and attitude towards Howl-o-Scream and budget cuts, and entertainment in general. I am saying this because I care, but you guys really need to cut out the politics.

I'm going to try and keep this short.
If you are so unhappy here, why don't you just leave?

If you guys are so unhappy with the park, why do you keep going?
 
Like things or not at HOS, can we please restrict our criticism to the event itself and not guests and their own views of the event? Thanks. That is all.

Now look into my eye...

 

Attachments

  • Purple Rose.JPG
    Purple Rose.JPG
    2 MB · Views: 36
I will always have a great time at the park, and all the events they put on. Some decisions they make may not suit some peoples liking, but other people may like what they are doing. I love the park, and I can not wait till I go tonight! :D


chickenking said:
Like things or not at HOS, can we please restrict our criticism to the event itself and not guests and their own views of the event? Thanks. That is all.

Now look into my eye...

That is cool looking! :D :p
 
Youhow2 said:
I wonder how many people who like this event have been to other major Halloween events at other parks... Ill be there Sunday....review will follow Monday morning.

I don't think it makes sense to judge events against each other. Each experience should be rated against the same objective standard; the (Platonic) form of a Haunt, the exemplar, if you will. Either you enjoy yourself or you don't, regardless of the quality of other parks. It isn't a zero-sum game. And as my mother likes so say, "comparisons are odious."

OK, so which is worse, citing Plato or quoting my mother on a theme parm forum?
 
Forgot to add this, and someone else said this eariler, but I'll throw this out there again: coming into France by way of Ireland, those first looks you get of the area really took my breath away. Every element going on there has such a strong impact at night, and it really looks amazing.

Also, the DJ area was renamed the Busch Gardens Demon Raver Sex Party by my husband, and he was shocked at how 'adult' the park was this HoS. I did not tell him any details about the event before hand other than clowns were out and pirates were in. By the time we walked out, he was excited to come back next weekend, which says a lot.
 
I agree with CK, the thread should be kept to those who have been there and their experiences. You can't have an opinion on something you haven't seen. I was there, I saw, it was glorious. If you don't like it, that's a you problem. I have learned as a musician, not everyone will like your stuff, and if someone doesn't, (expletive) 'em! If you didn't like it, just say that, don't try to make someone think they are wrong for disagreeing with you.
 
Consider Donating to Hide This Ad